Carol Loats                                     Office Hours:
Office: Psych 117                             M, 10-12, W, 3-5, F, 10-1
549-2348                                         and by appointment

Course Description:

    This course uses changes with industrialization as a framework for examining European women's history in the last several centuries. The course examines the impact women have had on various aspects of European history and the impact events and changes have had on women's lives. Topics include work, family, religion, sexuality, and women in movements for social and political change.

    The course will be partly lecture and partly seminar in format, with assigned readings from two basic texts and several other sources. The major written work will include a mid-term examination, a final examination, and a term paper on a topic of the student's choosing (with instructor's approval).

    Some students of this course may have had little or no background in European history. I will provide some background information in my lectures, but my coverage of general European history will be superficial, so as not to take time from the real subject matter of the course, the differences being a woman made in this part of the past. Students without a background in European history are encouraged to follow events in a standard Western Civilization textbook (a short text, by Spielvogel, is on reserve, and I have several others I can make available); or consult with me, and perhaps we can arrive at another approach.

Required Readings:
1.     Merry E. Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, 1993. Below this is referred to as "Wiesner."
2.     Bonnie G. Smith, Changing Lives: Women in European History Since 1700, D.C. Heath, 1989. Below this is referred to as " Smith . "
3.     Marilyn J. Boxer and Jean H. Quataert, editors, Connecting Spheres: Women in the Western World, 1500 to the Present, Oxford University Press, 1987. This is not available in the bookstore, since only a small portion of the book is required reading. A copy is on reserve in the library. Below, this is referred to as "CS."
4.     Other required readings will frequently be assigned, and will usually be handed out or put on library reserve at least one week n advance.

If you miss class, you are responsible for finding out about any additional assignments or any changes in the syllabus.

Schedule and Reading Assignments

    **READINGS ARE TO BE DONE BY THE DATE THEY ARE LISTED**

Jan. 13     COURSE INTRODUCTION

UNIT I     WHAT IS WOMEN'S HISTORY?

Jan. 15     Women's History
              read: CS, Preface, Forward, and Introduction, pp.
                   vii-viii, xv-xvii, and 3-17
                    Wiesner, Introduction

Jan. 17     Women's History (cont.)

UNIT II    WOMEN IN EUROPE BEFORE INDUSTRIALIZATION

Jan. 20     Women According to Men
            read:     CS, pp. 19-52 (overview, 1500-1750)
                       Wiesner, Ch. 1

Jan. 22     Relevance of Life-Cycle Contexts
            read:     Wiesner, Ch. 2

Jan. 24     Economics and Work (16th - 18th)
            read:     Wiesner, Ch. 3

Jan. 27     Intellectual Life
            read:     Wiesner, Ch

Jan. 29     film ,     "Return of Martin Guerre
            read:     Wiesner, Ch. 5

Jan. 31     film,      cont.
            read:     Wiesner, Ch

Feb. 3     Religious and Cultural Life
            read:     Wiesner, Ch. 7 and 8

UNIT III WOMEN IN EUROPE, LATE l8TH AND 19TH CENTURIES

Feb. 5     Transitions in the Eighteenth Century
          read:     CS, pp. 95-135 (overview, 1750-1890)
                    Smith, Preface and Ch. 1 (skim)

Feb. 7     Transitions (cont.)
          read:     Smith, Ch. 2 (skim)

Feb. 10     Women in the Age Of Revolution
            read:     Smith, Ch. 3

Feb. 12     Revolution (cont.)
            read:     as assigned

Feb. 14     Working Women in the Industrial Revolution
            read:     Smith, pp. 135-137 and Ch. 4

Feb. 17     Industrialization,     cont.
            read:     as assigned

Feb. 19     Industrialization (cont.)
            read:     as assigned
            See me about your term paper topic by this date, and turn in written work.

Feb. 21     Victorianism and the Middle Class Woman
            read:     Smith, Ch. 5
            as assigned

Feb. 24     Ideology of Domesticity
            read:     CS, Ch. 7.
            others as assigned

Feb. 26     Sexuality, Victorian and Otherwise
            read:     reserve: Ross and Rapp, "Sex and Society: a
                    Research Note from Social History and
                    Anthropology," pp. 51-73 (photocopy)
                    other readings as assigned

Feb. 28     Prostitution - England, France, Russia
           read: reserve:     Walkowitz, Harsin, Gibson (more info later)

March 3     Prostitution, cont.
            read:     reserve: Engel on Russia (more info later)

March 5 MIDTERM EXAM

March 7     Women in Movements for Social Change: Feminism
           read:     Smith, pp. 269-271 and Ch. 6

March 10     Feminism (cont.)
            read:     CS, Ch. 9.
            Bibliography for term paper due.

March 12     Women in Movements for Social Change - Workers
            Movements and Socialism
            read:     Smith, Ch. 7

March 14     Social Change (cont.)
            read:     on reserve, Becoming Visible Ch. 15.

March 17     Social Change (cont.)
            read:     as assigned

March 19     The Struggle for the Equality and Citizenship

March 21     The Struggle (cont.)
            read:     as assigned

March 24-28:     SPRING BREAK

March 31     The Struggle (cont. )
            read:     as assigned

UNIT IV     WOMEN IN EUROPE, 20TH CENTURY

April 2     The New Woman
        read:     CS, pp. 187-222 (overview, 1890 to the present)
                 Smith, Ch. 8

April 4     The New Woman (cont.)
        read:     as assigned

April 7     World War I
          read:     Smith, Ch. 9

April 9     The Search for a Revolutionary Solution: Russia
        read:     CS, Ch. 12
         others as assigned

April 11    After the War (suffrage, gender order, crisis)
          read:     Smith, pp. 407-409 and Ch. 10

April 14     After (cont.)
          Term paper outline and progress report due

April 16     Reactionary Path: Nazi Germany
          read:     Smith, Ch. 11

April 18    World War II

April 21     Women, War, and Peace
          read:     as assigned
          Final, polished draft of term paper due.

April 23     European Women in the bate 20th Century
           read:     Smith, Ch. 12 S

April 25     Late 20th Century (cont.)
           read:     CS, Ch. 13.

April 28     FINAL EXAM, 1 pm

Course Objectives:

1. Course will promote a basic familiarity with gender as factor in European history from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries.
2. Course will introduce students to the basic theoretical historiographical framework of women's history.
3. Through a combination of readings, lectures and small g discussions, course will provide both long and short-term roup
4. Course will encourage students to read and think more critically about the past.
5. Course will engage students in the process of history through contact with primary sources, and application of skills in synthesis and analysis, making connections and seeing relationships between events.
6. Course will promote student ability to discuss and write about the connections and about gender in the past.

Additional Important Information:

1) Your grade in the course will be calculated as follows:

    15 % reading, reporting, and discussion responsibilities
    30 % term paper
    25 % midterm exam
    30 % Final exam
  100 %

2) For many of the reading assignments, you will be asked to bring to class a short (one paragraph to one page) written assignment. For secondary readings, this should be a statement of the thesis or argument, and your analysis of it, or a brief summary of the reading. For primary source readings, this should be a summary and interpretation of the document(s). your "reading, reporting, and discussion responsibilities" grade, listed above, will be based mostly on those written assignments and reports you make to the class on readings. More details will be given in class.

3) Attendance and Promptness: Students who come to class regularly and keep up with the work are usually the ones who learn the most. you are expected to be in class and make a contribution to any discussions.
    The most important moments of each class session are usually the first and last few moments, when upcoming assignments are mentioned and the day's material is introduced or summarized. For your own benefit, and as a courtesy to the instructor and to the rest of the class, you are expected to be present promptly at the beginning of the period, and to stay throughout the period.

4) A "term paper" is an important requirement for this course, and accounts for 30% of the course grade. Be sure that you get all the handouts on this assignment, and that you keep up with all the due dates.

5) plagiarism is the act of using someone else's exact words, or extensively paraphrasing someone else's ideas, as if they were yours (that is, without giving credit to the author, book, or person you are "stealing" from). plagiarism is not allowed, and results in an F on the assignment, and possibly in the course. See me if you have any questions about this or any other instructions.

6) Reminder: For this and (and any) course at the university level, you can expect to work about 2 hours out of class for each hour in class, or an average of 6 hours a week. If you find that the class is taking more of your time than that, please come see me to talk about it.

7) Please note that, if you live off campus and your home phone has caller ID and does not accept unblocked calls, no one can call you from campus. If you leave me a message to call you, I will not be able to do so.

8) Any student eligible for and needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disability is requested to speak with me no later than January 24, 1997.

I hope to see each of you regularly in my office as we explore history together. If you experience difficulties with the material, or other difficulties which interfere with your work, please be sure to keep in touch with me.